Joaquin Buckley is aware of there are a variety of priceless classes to remove from his lopsided choice loss to Kamaru Usman in the primary occasion of UFC Atlanta, however that doesn’t change how he felt about his efficiency total.
“You speak about each spherical he took me down, stored me there, I couldn’t get again to my ft,” Buckley stated on his YouTube channel. “I’m Mike Beltran like, ‘Bro, c’mon, stand us up no less than one time. Let me get again as much as my ft.’
“I’m not going to mislead y’all, I really feel so embarrassed due to that loss. I really feel so humiliated due to that loss. However on the identical time, I’ve to bow my head: Usman confirmed me who he was. … That evening, it actually confirmed that there’s ranges to this sport.”
Usman dominated Buckley within the wrestling division — particularly early on — getting takedowns at will, and as soon as the previous welterweight champ acquired Buckley down, he stayed on prime for almost all of the spherical. Issues started to alter barely within the championship rounds with Buckley discovering extra success on the ft, however the fifth spherical is the place “New Mansa” discovered himself in desperation mode needing a end to get his hand raised.
Buckley was capable of defend all six of Usman’s takedown makes an attempt within the last stanza, and believes that proves that it was extra of him having an off evening fairly than having poor takedown protection.
“Y’all speaking about I can’t wrestle, what are ya’ll speaking about?,” Buckley stated. “Y’all seen my final combat with Colby, and Colby is arguably a greater wrestler than Usman. … So don’t disrespect me by saying I can’t wrestle, since you noticed in that fifth spherical, my ass can wrestle. I simply didn’t present up. I didn’t execute. That’s on me.
“And I allowed myself to be in that second for too lengthy. I used to be mesmerized, man. I’m seeing Francis Ngannou throughout the cage from Kamaru Usman, and I’m simply wanting like, ‘I get to indicate these guys how nice I’m. I get to indicate these guys that I’m that one,’ as an alternative of simply realizing that the person that’s in entrance of me proper now, he’s making an attempt to carry me down. And I paid for it.”
The loss snapped a powerful six-fight win streak for Buckley since transferring all the way down to welterweight. Buckley went 4-0 in 2024, together with stoppage wins over Colby Covington, Vicente Luque, and Stephen Thompson.
Regardless of the setback, Buckley remains to be assured he can win UFC gold.
“It was Usman’s evening,” Buckley stated. “I’ve simply acquired to provide all respect to that man for truly taking this combat and giving me a possibility. However, but once more, the main target doesn’t change. We taking the throne. Interval. We taking the throne — it’s simply not in the present day.”
